'Gender neutral' Asia Nguyen-Duy charged with murder of Oberlin prof dad, stepmom, claimed to be 'escaping cult'

Nguyen-Day’s father was Oberlin arts professor Pipo Nguyen-Duy, 64, who had been a recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. His wife Tran Thi Phong, 56, was also found shot to death.

The couple were found fatally shot on Wednesday morning in their home near the Oberlin campus in Ohio, the Oberlin police confirmed. “The male victim was discovered on the first floor of the resident and the female victim was discovered on the second floor. Both victims suffered from multiple gunshot wounds,” they said.

Suspect Nguyen-Duy was carried into court by four officers on Thursday and set in a chair to face the court and is being held on $3 million bail. He faces six counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and one count of tampering with evidence.

On Wednesday, police were called to the scene of a car fire on the Oberlin campus where they aided firefighters in extinguishing the blaze. Inside that car, officers found a wallet, passport, suitcase, keys, and loose ammunition.

The owner of that car was Asia Nguyen-Duy who was found “when an Oberlin resident called police to report a ‘wet disheveled man’ at her front door and took him into custody without incident,” ABC News reports. Nguyen-Duy told officers that he “killed his family” and then provided Pipo Nguyen-Duy and Phong’s address.

Prior to calling police, the resident had been asked by Nguyen-Duy to record him and post the video online. Prosecutor Zachary Simonoff told the court, “He told her that he did not want the police involved. In the video, he identifies himself as Asia Nguyen-Duy, says he’s escaping a cult. He also said, 'Everything I did was on my own accord and I take full responsibility.'"

Simonoff told the court that officers went to the home Nguyen-Dey had indicated and “found two people dead apparently from gunshot wounds with blood throughout the house.” A weapon has not yet been recovered.

In much of the reporting on this case, media outlets have chosen to refer to the suspect as “they.”

Asia Nguyen-Duy hails from Ashland, Oregon, attending high school there before going on the Georgia State University to study neuroscience and computational neuroscience. While in college, according to Nguyen-Duy’s LinkedIn page, he worked as an architectural intern and as a stagehand for theatrical productions.

Pipo Nguyen-Day was a Vietnamese refugee who came to the US when he was 13-years-old. He earned a degree in economics from Minnesota’s Carleton College before going on to study art at the University of New Mexico where he was awarded both an MA and an MFA. He was a celebrated artist and teacher. He had two sons.

“Tragedies such as this one intrude upon our lives in jarring ways. I am simply overwhelmed with sadness, and I am deeply concerned about the impact of the devastating loss of Pipo to our community,” said Oberlin College President Carmen Twillie Ambar to students and faculty in a statement. “Pipo was beloved. During his years at Oberlin, he touched all of us through his passion for photography.”

“Our community will be hurting for a very long time, and when the shock of this news subsides, we will all need to process our grief,” Ambar went on. “This processing will sometimes be together and sometimes alone, but we will need to take the time to do so.”